


like a knife

by Lake (beyond_belief)



Category: Terminator (Movies), Terminator - All Media Types, Terminator: Dark Fate
Genre: Gen, Hair Braiding, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Requited Unrequited Love, Sharing a Bed, implied Dani Ramos/Grace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2021-01-22 17:11:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21305621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beyond_belief/pseuds/Lake
Summary: The hours immediately after.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 43





	like a knife

"Does it hurt less?" Dani asks, the first thing she says to Sarah after it's all over, after they run from the dam to avoid the police, after Sarah steals a car and has to look away from Dani's face as they drive because it's too painful. 

"Do you want the truth, or would you feel better if I lied?" Sarah asks in reply. She's not heartless; this girl has seen too many people die in the last few days. 

"The truth."

There's a shitty-looking motel up ahead, so Sarah turns the stolen car in a restaurant parking lot a few buildings shy of it and throws it into park. "The truth. No, it doesn't hurt less. You just get used to it, which makes you think it's less."

In the dark of the car, she sees Dani press a hand to her mouth, sees her shoulders shake. Sarah reaches over and curls a hand over the girl's forearm, squeezes as gently as she can. "I'm sorry," she murmurs, because she is. "Let's go get cleaned up, and try to get some sleep. I've got some cash still strapped to me somewhere."

Dani's laugh is an ugly wet sound, but she nods.

*

"Your son," Dani says, then stops.

Sarah's in the bathroom, standing at the sink with the cheap towel wrapped around her body, running the cheap comb through her hair. The door is open; in the mirror she can see Dani sitting on the edge of the bed, also wearing only a hotel towel, her own wet hair hanging messily around her face. "Whatever you want to ask, you can ask."

"Did he have a father?"

She means _was his father around_. Sarah meets her gaze in the mirror and says, "His father was the man sent back to save me from the machine."

Dani's face twists briefly and her eyes look wet again, but her voice is steady. "Did he die, too?"

"Yes." Sarah readjusts their clothing, laid over the sagging rod of the shower curtain to dry, then brings the comb with her out into the room. "Here, let me fix your hair for you."

Dani nods. She hugs her bare knees as Sarah kneels behind her on the bed. Ignoring the throb in her shoulder, Sarah starts at the bottom of Dani's hair. She works slowly, easing out the tangles left by the shitty hotel shampoo, working the girl's damp hair into smoothness inch by inch. Dani's shoulders relax slightly, but only up to a point. Sarah's familiar with the feeling. 

She's picking at a stubborn knot when Dani says, "Did your son-"

"John."

"Did John ever know his father?"

"No. He died saving me." The _like Grace did for you_ hangs unspoken in the air. Sarah knows Dani will understand it. 

She runs the comb through the now-untangled section, and Dani sighs, then whispers, "I didn't know I could feel like that."

"I understand." Sarah hasn't been able to remember what Kyle's face looked like in years, but she can remember how she felt as though it were yesterday. She parts Dani's hair into three pieces and braids it swiftly. The end she ties off with a loose thread from the towel. "You can tell her," she says quietly, "when you find each other again. As for right now, we should both try to sleep. Get under the blankets."

*

Sarah thinks Dani's finally fallen asleep - she hasn't said anything in a while, and her breathing seems even where they're facing each other in the bed. Sarah's on her left side, in an attempt to keep pressure off the right for now. Tomorrow she'll steal some Tylenol from the gas station down the road.

"Sarah," Dani mumbles, and Sarah feels Dani's hand squeeze at her own. A truck goes by outside, first rattling loudly, then with a screech of brakes. "What do we do now?"

"You learn. All you can. And we find out what Legion is, and we try to stop it. That's all we can do."

"Will you stay with me?"

"Of course," Sarah answers, not even needing to think about the words before she says them. 

Tomorrow they'll steal another car and drive as far as they can get. Tomorrow they'll dig up one or more of the caches that Sarah has buried in out of the way places across America. Tomorrow will be the first day of the rest of their lives, however long those are.

**Author's Note:**

> This movie was gay. Also Linda Hamilton appeared on-screen and I cried, and then I nearly cried again afterwards when I tried to say "I didn't know I had so many feelings about Linda Hamilton!" to one of my fellow movie-goers. And then I had to come home and write this. 
> 
> PS: If anyone ever wondered why I write so many fate vs. free will stories: _Terminator_ and T2 were very formatives movie for me.


End file.
